Translated by Rei
1997

1. At the beginning, she was not sure if she could do such a big concert tour, @ Tokyo Dome.(because it is very large) Namie attended the meetings regulary, and discussed things with the staff members. Before the concert started, she could hear the fans calling her name, and she was very nervous. She said she was actually shaking during at least the first three songs. She also said that the dome felt very different when it was packed with people, than when she rehearsed, without her fans.

2. She says that the band members and her dancers were very helpful during the tour. When she couldn’t sing right, the band members played beautiful sounds on their instruments to cheer her up. She had thought there was going to be “a lack of communication” during the tour, since most of the band members were foreigners, but she said she was wrong. For example, when she was resting, the band members would play something, and the dancers would start dancing… and they had a lot of fun. She says that they all really supported her a lot.

3. Tetsuya Komuro produced the tour, and he wanted to lose the “hard” and “tough” (namie uses the word “gatsugatsu” in the video) image of usual concerts. He also wanted to make it kind of like a fashion show. This is shown for example, in the opening. The dancers come out one by one, onto the stage, like a fashion show. Also, in “Don’t Wanna Cry” they use the effect of curtains (drooping, falling, etc.) to make it like a fashion show. She also says that it felt really good to sing different kinds of songs–for example “Storm” by m.c.A.T. instead of sticking to one type of music.